VENTURE HIGHWAY
Credit card bill payment hurdles; startup funding logs slight uptick
Happy Friday! The central bank has mandated credit card bill payments through Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), but only eight of 34 banks are live on the network, causing concern among payment companies. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.
General Catalyst-Venture Highway deal; Sebi clears Ola Electric IPO
Silicon Valley investor General Catalyst has acquired Indian early stage fund Venture Highway. More on this in today’s ETtech Top 5.
Silicon Valley VC fund General Catalyst acquires Venture Highway; will deploy $1 billion in India
Venture capital fund General Catalyst is acquiring India-focussed early-stage investor Venture Highway to strengthen its India presence. As part of this move, Venture Highway—which has backed unicorns like Meesho and Moglix—will cease to exist and will transition into General Catalyst India. This comes in the backdrop of a larger reset in the global venture capital industry after the exuberance of the pandemic years.
Defence stocks have done it, will the infrastructure sector follow suit? 6 stocks of the highway makers
There are four sectors, Railways, Defence, Infrastructure and PSU as a set of stocks where election results were important due to the fact that policy continuity was seen as major tailwinds. Because the results were not exactly the way the street had expected, there was a sharp reaction in all these stocks after the election results. But within ten days, the majority of the defence stocks are already higher than what they were quoting on the day of elections. The question is whether other sectors also will see a catch up or not. Now there cannot be any doubt that political noise levels are going to remain high and that might create uncertainty at times. It might take a while for some of the sectors to get the momentum back on the street but probability of getting back on track is high as and when the street gets an indication that it is work as usual in the sector.
Defence Ministry points gun at Godrej's housing project with revenue potential of Rs 7,000 crore in Mumbai
The Defence Ministry has raised objections to a residential project undertaken by Godrej Properties in Mumbai, demanding the suspension of work on the venture. With an estimated revenue potential of Rs 7,000 crore, the project, known as Godrej Reserve, has encountered opposition due to its proximity to the Central Ordnance Depot (COD) complex in Kandivali. Spanning an 18.6-acre land parcel, Godrej Reserve has already seen the launch of approximately 1.91 million sq ft of development.
Why warehousing is a booming asset class for discerning investors in India
The demand for modern warehousing facilities is touching a new high as e-commerce and retail sales are seeing a surge with each passing day in India.
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Meesho closes $275 million funding in first tranche, in talks for more
Meesho secures $275M funding in a $600M round. Share transfers hinted in SEC filing. In total, Meesho has raised $1.36 billion – including secondaries – since 2015.
Potholes may become a thing of the past, as highway authority is testing this magical tech
Potholes persist as a major concern for Indian road users, despite technological advancements. The NHAI is exploring self-healing materials for roads, aiming to autonomously repair gaps using a blend of steel fibers and bitumen. This innovative asphalt technology involves heating the bitumen to bind with road materials, preventing pothole formation.
India has cracked the code on drawing foreign capital: Charles Emond, CEO CDPQ
Portfolio stands at $6.7 bn in India since 2016, Canada’s 2nd largest pension fund looks to deploy $4 bn in realty, infra in as many years. India according to the investment veteran must strive to become a lower-cost producer in higher skilled industries. CDPQ CEO Charles Emond is confident that the firm will be able to maintain the investment momentum over the next 5 years, which may put India as the largest investment destination in APAC, growing "pretty fast compared to other destinations."
GenAI startup Ema secures $25 million in funding led by Accel, Prosus
Ema was founded in March 2023 by former Google employees Souvik Sen and Surojit Chatterjee and stands for Enterprise Machine Assistant. It allows enterprises to build generative AI personas and applications internally to bring about automation and increase efficiency and productivity.
Exly raises $6.2 million in latest funding round led by Chiratae Ventures
The company is expected to utilise the proceeds from the latest raise for enhancing its product offerings, for customer acquisition, among other aspects.
NARCL offers ₹270 cr for Pink City Expressway, recovery likely at 15%
The government-backed bad loan aggregator, National Asset Reconstruction Co (NARCL), has made a ₹270 crore offer for Pink City Expressway Private Limited (PCEPL), the company which was formed to build, operate and maintain the six-lane Gurugram-Kotputli-Jaipur section of the Delhi-Jaipur highway. PCEPL has ₹1,761 crore of outstanding loans and another ₹30 crore of bank guarantees.
Grip Invest raises $10 million in equity and debt, led by Stride Ventures
Of the total, $1.5 million is venture debt while $8.5 million was raised via fresh equity and convertible notes, the company said on Tuesday.
Meesho’s early backers eye new secondaries at $3-3.5 billion valuation
Norwest Venture Partners, WestBridge Capital are among entities said to be in talks to pick up stake in ecommerce firm Meesho. The development underscores the growing trend of secondary share sales in late-stage firms.
Venture Highway sells off its stake in Meesho to WestBridge
Venture Highway first invested in Meesho in 2015. The exit comes just days after Venture Highway co-founder Samir Sood stepped down as a partner of the firm. At the same time, it had appointed Priya Mohan as the managing partner.
2023 Year in review: VC funds see heightened churn amid performance pressure
At least 38 partners and top executives moved out of VC funds this year highlighting the churn caused by the challenges in the technology sector.
U.S.-China relations: The rise and fall of the world's most successful joint venture
Here were two countries separated by the Pacific Ocean, one shaped by freewheeling capitalism, the other ruled by an authoritarian Communist Party, yet conjoined in an enterprise so consequential that economic historian Niall Ferguson coined a term: Chimerica, shorthand for their "symbiotic economic relationship."
Karnataka govt holds discussions on high-speed corridor between Bengaluru and Mangaluru
The project proposes construction of a six to eight-lane high-speed corridor between Bengaluru to Mangaluru.
Meesho CXO Utkrishta Kumar exits to set up own venture
Utkrishta Kumar, the chief experience officer for business at ecommerce firm Meesho, has resigned after five years with the company. Kumar will be leaving to pursue entrepreneurship, according to an internal email from co-founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey. Megha Agarwal, currently the CXO for growth, will take over Kumar's role, with responsibilities split into three categories.
Leisure travel may pave the road for realtors to open malls on highways
Experts predict that an upgrade in infrastructure and an increase in leisure travel will drive growth in highway retail. Brands such as Tata Croma, Starbucks, and Uniqlo have already opened or are planning to open stores on highways. Developers are also investing in highway retail, with projects such as a 500,000 sq ft mall on the Mumbai-Nashik highway and a 1.5 million sq ft retail space on the Chandigarh highway.
Venture Highway founder Samir Sood steps down as partner; Priya Mohan now managing partner
Sood, who has taken the role of an advisor to assist the next generation to take charge and build the franchise further, told ET that the “transition was planned and thought through".
WestBridge Capital to pick up secondary stake in Meesho at around $3 billion
The Indian fund which has backed companies like Freshworks, Dealshare and PhysicsWallah is in talks to pick up about 2% stake in Meesho.
Isthara raises $10 million in fresh funding
The current funding round brings Isthara’s total fund-raise to about $21 million
B2C credit management platform CheQ raises $10 million in funding led by Venture Highway
CheQ is backed by angel investors such as Naveen Kukreja, the chief executive of PaisaBazaar, and Shailaz Nag, the founder of Dotpe, among others.
Prop-tech startup Ivy Homes raises $7 million in funding
Ivy Homes makes instant offers to buy homes using AI and machine learning. It uses a machine-learning-based pricing algorithm to forecast the fair market value of a property based on more than 50 parameters.
Curelink raises $3.5 million in funding led by Elevation Capital and Venture Highway
“Curelink builds on this behaviour and allows doctors to seamlessly communicate and engage with their patients automatically- all within WhatsApp,” the release said.
Wealth management platform Wealthy raises $7.5 million funding led by Alpha Wave
Wealthy will be using the funds to penetrate deeper into the Indian market and expand globally, including in the Middle East, the Bengaluru company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Recruitment startup Kula raises $2.7 million from Girish Mathrubootham’s fund, Venture Highway, others
The company's focus with this infusion of funds will be on getting their product out and taking it to customers.
AI job search firm Hiration gets Rs 21 crore
The company plans to use the fresh capital to further develop its product, scale its operations in India and the US
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